Monthly Archives: December 2008

Earlier this month the daily question was, “have you finished your Christmas shopping?” I’ve always found this question to be quite annoying but it seems to be the standard early-December conversation starter or “small talk” standby. As Christmas passes and we approach year-end, another equally (if not more) annoying question seems to come up – “what are you guys doing for new years?”

Personally, New Year’s Eve has never been a huge deal to me. I’ve happily spent many a low-key New Year’s Eve at home with my husband, a bottle of champagne and Dick Clark (or is it Ryan Seacrest now?!). Despite my non-excitement over New Year’s Eve, I do have a lot of friends who are HUGE New Year’s people. These people live for this momentous occasion. They start researching potential plans months in advance and approach December 31 with high hopes of an unforgettable, over-the-top night of celebration. And so, after a quick survey of these friends – these full-on New Year’s Eve buffs – I can recommend four New Year’s Eve experiences that sound like a guaranteed good time.

Orlando, Florida – Universal Studio’s City Walk

I last visited Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida at the young age of 8… and boy, have things changed since then. Now “Universal Resort”, this shrine of amusement and action movies has exploded into much more than a theme park. Universal City Walk is a Mecca of dining and entertainment. City walk spans 30-acres full of live music, dancing, shopping, movies and excellent dining options that will appeal to all ages and budgets. For New Year’s Eve, they’re “takin the party to the streets” – with live performances by the Doobie Brothers, entertainment in all of their clubs including Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville (for all your Parrotheads), Bob Marley – A Tribute to Freedom, Latin Quarter and the Red Coconut Club (to name just a few). Included in the ticket price of $119.99 is all-you-can-eat gourmet food, a champagne toast, party hats and noisemakers. This event will be fun for all ages and a great way to take in a lot of action in one location. With varying entertainers and dining options at your fingertips there will be something to keep everyone entertained.

As the adventure columnist for Best Western it’s basically my “job” to encourage you all to live your dreams and be as adventuresome as possible. That is all well and good, but some of you have shared some practical matters with me, like a lack of vacation. You’ve told me that you it’s just not a practical reality for you to take 4 weeks vacation and go trekking in Tibet or cycling in France.

Here are five adventures that will help you free your adventuresome spirit within the practical constraints of your jobby job.

#1 The Athletic Adventure: Swim to Alcatraz and back by 9 am (San Francisco residents only).

The Southend Rowing Club hosts a roundtrip swim to Alcatraz every Tuesday morning at 6 am. It’s for conditioned swimmers only who are also members, but in my experience it doesn’t take more than a few months of conditioning for most swimmers to get to this point. Participants finish in time for 9 am meetings. What a way to start off the day! And best yet, this adventure this takes zero vacation.

There is so much to do in Boston! I’ve been there a few times, so friends and family often ask me what to do when they visit this historic city. I decided I’d create a list of my favorite experiences to share with them, and then ask them to add to the list if they discover something new! Here’s my list:

1. I never thought I’d recommend a line on the sidewalk as a must-do, but one of the coolest things I’ve ever done is to follow such a line from Boston Common to Bunker Hill. This two-and-a-half mile path is Boston’s Freedom Trail, and it’s worth going to Boston just to experience it, which is why it’s at the top of my list (the rest of the list is not in rank order). Here’s a sample of what lies along the trail:

Park Street Church, where the song “America” was sung in public for the first time

The final resting places of Paul Revere, John Hancock, and Samuel Adams

The site of the first public school

Old South Meetinghouse, where Samuel Adams gave the signal that it was time to dump the tea into the harbor

The birthplace of Ben Franklin at 17 Milk Street

Boston Harbor, where rebellious colonials hosted what is probably the most famous tea party in history

Quincy Market, where you still go to buy food, although these days its take-out restaurant food

The Oyster House, where Daniel Webster regularly sat down to eat about three-dozen oysters, washed down by six glasses of brandy

Italian restaurants and bakeries in the North End

Paul Revere’s home and Old North church, where his lanterns shone to warn that the British were coming by sea

The site of a molasses flood

The U.S.S. Constitution, also known as “Old Ironsides”

Bunker Hill, the site of the first real battle of the Revolutionary War

They say timing is everything, and that’s especially true when it comes to saving money on business travel. Granted, many business travelers have little control over the timing of their trips. When clients (or your boss) call, you go. Period.

However, there are times when you can plan ahead. And if you travel during the following slower periods, you’ll save big bucks over the coming year. So get out your 2009 calendar and consider hitting the road during the following slow periods:

January: After the holiday rush, demand for travel falls precipitously and so do prices. In the travel business, the two to three weeks after New Years are called “dead weeks,” and you’ll find deep discounts nearly everywhere. Warning: This is a time when many hotels schedule repairs and renovations, so be sure to ask for a room away from such activity when you check in.

I was rummaging in a closet last night when I saw my ski jacket, helmet, goggles, and mittens. I only used them one winter–it was the last one I spent in Utah, when I finally decided to pay for ski lessons and find out what all the fuss was about. I loved it and was looking forward to getting a season pass to my local ski resort again the next winter. I was also determined to become a proficient enough skier to keep up with my husband for a few runs–he’s been skiing almost as long as he’s been walking.

Then we moved to the Northeast and I haven’t skied again. The first year we were here, I was holding out for a trip back west so I could practice on familiar snow–the trip happened, but the skiing didn’t. Then last winter, I was in the third trimester of pregnancy…so downhill skiing was not really an option.

There is a whole wave of people who are using marathons as launch pads for mini vacations. They sign-up for a race in a city they want to visit and invite their friends and family to join them and cheer them on. Bada Bing, a group vacation with a purpose! Here’s are some destination marathons…

You may not have heard of Branson, but it’s a gem of a town located in Missouri, and at this time of year, it plays host to “An Old Time Christmas” at Silver Dollar City, a spectacular holiday light show which was named one of the world’s Top Holiday Destinations by CNN.com.

A very family-oriented festival, one of the main highlights is their five-story Christmas tree. There’s a tree lighting celebration every night at 5:30 pm. No ordinary tree, this one twinkles and dances along with over a million lights throughout the city’s square. There’s also the Gifts of Christmas Holiday Light Parade which travels through the streets twice each evening.

If you’re in the mood for some holiday theatre, you can take in an original musical adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. This is the grandest production ever showcased at Silver Dollar City, and features 14 talented actors and a live band.

I’ve had it with all the doom and gloom. It’s the holidays. This should be a happy time. So with that in mind, let’s focus on the silver lining surrounding all those dark economic clouds…

First off, if you are reading this blog, it’s likely you are still employed and still have a travel budget. That’s great news considering the current flurry of pink slips seems heavier than the season’s first snow flurries.

Have you noticed that nearly everyone in the travel space seems to be in a better mood these days? I think this is because the pressure is off— the decline in traveler volume means that everyone can sit back, take a breath, and remember that its not all about the number of heads in beds or butts in seats, but it’s about customer service.

Almost everyone has heard of Cooperstown, Canton, and Cleveland as primo Hall of Fame destinations, but what about the Trap Shooting Hall of Fame in Vandalia, Ohio?

Honestly, I don’t even know what trap shooting is exactly, but they’ve got 150 people who were pretty good at it featured in the museum. Here is a salute to other Hall of Fames, less known perhaps, but just as, er..famed?

Yeehaa! I’m not much country, but this seems pretty cool and I can bet sure as shootin’, that my little girls would love to visit this place. Inductees include Sacajawea, Laura Ingles Wilder, Patsy Cline, and Prairie Rose Henderson (let’s face it, if your name is Prairie Rose, you probably have a slight advantage getting in).

There is a whole movement of people who are discovering that swimming in nature’s water beats swimming in chlorinated pool water. I recently got into open water swimming, and have spent a lot of my recent vacation time traveling to various places to swim in bays, lakes, channels and rivers.

Swimming is the only fitness activity that invokes every muscle in your body–the only full body workout. It’s also a very efficient and joint-friendly way to get fit. Water is 900 times denser than air, and to me this makes the act of swimming feel like I am overcoming something tangibly difficult. It’s addictive in a wonderfully healthy way.

Here’s a list of audacious swims to jump into, starting with the Everest of swims:

Heather Wilson is a corporate event manager and proud wife to a US Navy Sailor. Heather travels the globe for her career and blogs about all things "life" along the way. A proud cancer survivor, new(ish) bonus mom, reptile owning and Harley Davidson loving gal, her topics are diverse and nothing is off limits. She loves writing 'real deal' reviews and doing giveaways! Pull up a screen, share your thoughts and enjoy as she navigates the Life of a Traveling Navy Wife!

Teresa Strasser

Family Travel Expert

Teresa Strasser is an Emmy Award-winning writer and television host, but more importantly, she is a parallel parking phenom – an important skill for navigating family vacations! Having grown up in San Francisco and migrated to New York for school, Strasser has conquered both coasts with a wicked sense of humor and a “try anything once” attitude.

With more than 25 years of experience, renowned dog behavior expert and New York Times best-selling author Cesar Millan is one of the most sought-after authorities in the field of dog behavior and rehabilitation.

As a kid on family vacations in the 60's, you'd find him in the airplane galley chatting with flight attendants, scoring airline wings or decks of cards and begging for visits to the cockpit. Later, Chris pursued a degree in international business....Why? Because of the opportunities to travel that such a career would bring.

Micah and Jenna are the creators of the travel website, Wander The Map. As a married couple always constantly on the lookout for adventurous activities, they have turned their love of travel, videography and photography into full-time effort.

Hello world! My name is Nadine Sykora and I have been traveling for the world for the last few years and recording my experience. I love seeing new parts of the world and have stood on 6 continents. Whether I’m scuba diving with shark, snuggling with cheetahs or just sipping a smoothie in a café, each new day brings a new thrill.

Manny is the Chairman of the Hispanicize brand of Latino social media platforms, including the annual Hispanicize event, Hispanicize Wire, the Latina Mom Bloggers network and the Hispanic PR Blog. In addition, he is a major shareholder in the Being Latino platform and publishes his own personal family blog PapiBlogger.

Jason Fogelson is a freelance writer and creative director. The current Vice President of the Motor Press Guild of America, he has covered cars, trucks, SUVs and motorcycles for a variety of print, web and broadcast media, including Forbes.com, About.com, AOL Autos, CNN.com, the Los Angeles Times, Mazdasport Magazine and Fine Living Network.

Bryson has his own Marketing Company and has been affiliated with Best Western since 2009. Prior to that, Bryson held senior positions in both the corporate and leisure travel sectors, at American Express and Sears Canada. He also spent time at Travelweek, one of Canada's leading travel trade publications.

Dena Roché is a luxury wellness travel expert and creator of The Travel Diet, a program that teaches travelers how travel feeds your spirit, nourishes your brain AND whittles your waist. Her travel, spa and lifestyle articles have been featured in magazines like Modern Luxury, Robb Report, Great Golf, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons and other regional magazines and online publications.

By the age of 10, I had visited the Caribbean, Italy, France, Korea, Japan, Thailand and a number of destinations throughout Canada and the United States. My thirst for traveling and exploring new places continued into my adult years, and these days while most of my travels have been business-related, I manage to squeeze in as much personal traveling into my busy life as possible!

Ever since my parents threw me in the back of the car at the age of five on a road trip through Arizona, I've been hooked. Travel Junkie. The wonder of travel for me is finding the unique aspects of each destination that gives it character.

Traveling is my favorite hobby. Anytime there's an opportunity to take a trip, I will do everything I can to make it happen. Volunteering for work trips, any type of family event, and leisure travels with my own family are all my idea of fun.